Illinois Compiled Statutes
50 ILCS 706/ - Law Enforcement Officer-Worn Body Camera Act.
Article 10 - Law Enforcement Officer-Worn Body Camera Act

(50 ILCS 706/Art. 10 heading)




 
(50 ILCS 706/10-1)
Sec. 10-1. Short title. This Article may be cited as the Law Enforcement Officer-Worn Body Camera Act. References in this Article to "this Act" mean this Article.

(Source: P.A. 102-558, eff. 8-20-21.)
 
(50 ILCS 706/10-5)
Sec. 10-5. Purpose.
The General Assembly recognizes that trust and mutual respect between law enforcement agencies and the communities they protect and serve are essential to effective policing and the integrity of our criminal justice system. The General Assembly recognizes that officer-worn body cameras have developed as a technology that has been used and experimented with by police departments. Officer-worn body cameras will provide state-of-the-art evidence collection and additional opportunities for training and instruction. Further, officer-worn body cameras may provide impartial evidence and documentation to settle disputes and allegations of officer misconduct. Ultimately, the uses of officer-worn body cameras will help collect evidence while improving transparency and accountability, and strengthening public trust. The General Assembly creates these standardized protocols and procedures for the use of officer-worn body cameras to ensure that this technology is used in furtherance of these goals while protecting individual privacy and providing consistency in its use across this State.


(Source: P.A. 99-352, eff. 1-1-16.)
 
(50 ILCS 706/10-10)
Sec. 10-10. Definitions. As used in this Act:
"Badge" means an officer's department issued identification number associated with his or her position as a police officer with that department.
"Board" means the Illinois Law Enforcement Training Standards Board created by the Illinois Police Training Act.
"Business offense" means a petty offense for which the fine is in excess of $1,000.
"Community caretaking function" means a task undertaken by a law enforcement officer in which the officer is performing an articulable act unrelated to the investigation of a crime. "Community caretaking function" includes, but is not limited to, participating in town halls or other community outreach, helping a child find his or her parents, providing death notifications, and performing in-home or hospital well-being checks on the sick, elderly, or persons presumed missing. "Community caretaking function" excludes law enforcement-related encounters or activities.
"Fund" means the Law Enforcement Camera Grant Fund.
"In uniform" means a law enforcement officer who is wearing any officially authorized uniform designated by a law enforcement agency, or a law enforcement officer who is visibly wearing articles of clothing, a badge, tactical gear, gun belt, a patch, or other insignia that he or she is a law enforcement officer acting in the course of his or her duties.
"Law enforcement officer" or "officer" means any person employed by a State, county, municipality, special district, college, unit of government, or any other entity authorized by law to employ peace officers or exercise police authority and who is primarily responsible for the prevention or detection of crime and the enforcement of the laws of this State.
"Law enforcement agency" means all State agencies with law enforcement officers, county sheriff's offices, municipal, special district, college, or unit of local government police departments.
"Law enforcement-related encounters or activities" include, but are not limited to, traffic stops, pedestrian stops, arrests, searches, interrogations, investigations, pursuits, crowd control, traffic control, non-community caretaking interactions with an individual while on patrol, or any other instance in which the officer is enforcing the laws of the municipality, county, or State. "Law enforcement-related encounter or activities" does not include when the officer is completing paperwork alone, is participating in training in a classroom setting, or is only in the presence of another law enforcement officer.
"Minor traffic offense" means a petty offense, business offense, or Class C misdemeanor under the Illinois Vehicle Code or a similar provision of a municipal or local ordinance.
"Officer-worn body camera" means an electronic camera system for creating, generating, sending, receiving, storing, displaying, and processing audiovisual recordings that may be worn about the person of a law enforcement officer.
"Peace officer" has the meaning provided in Section 2-13 of the Criminal Code of 2012.
"Petty offense" means any offense for which a sentence of imprisonment is not an authorized disposition.
"Recording" means the process of capturing data or information stored on a recording medium as required under this Act.
"Recording medium" means any recording medium authorized by the Board for the retention and playback of recorded audio and video including, but not limited to, VHS, DVD, hard drive, cloud storage, solid state, digital, flash memory technology, or any other electronic medium.

(Source: P.A. 102-1104, eff. 12-6-22.)
 
(50 ILCS 706/10-15)
Sec. 10-15. Applicability.
(a) All law enforcement agencies must employ the use of officer-worn body cameras in accordance with the provisions of this Act, whether or not the agency receives or has received monies from the Law Enforcement Camera Grant Fund.
(b) Except as provided in subsection (b-5), all law enforcement agencies must implement the use of body cameras for all law enforcement officers, according to the following schedule:
(b-5) If a law enforcement agency that serves a municipality with a population of at least 100,000 but not more than 500,000 or a law enforcement agency that serves a county with a population of at least 100,000 but not more than 500,000 has ordered by October 1, 2022 or purchased by that date officer-worn body cameras for use by the law enforcement agency, then the law enforcement agency may implement the use of body cameras for all of its law enforcement officers by no later than July 1, 2023. Records of purchase within this timeline shall be submitted to the Illinois Law Enforcement Training Standards Board by January 1, 2023.
(c) A law enforcement agency's compliance with the requirements under this Section shall receive preference by the Illinois Law Enforcement Training Standards Board in awarding grant funding under the Law Enforcement Camera Grant Act.
(d) This Section does not apply to court security officers, State's Attorney investigators, and Attorney General investigators.
(Source: P.A. 101-652, eff. 7-1-21; 102-28, eff. 6-25-21; 102-1104, eff. 12-6-22.)
 
(50 ILCS 706/10-20)
Sec. 10-20. Requirements.
(a) The Board shall develop basic guidelines for the use of officer-worn body cameras by law enforcement agencies. The guidelines developed by the Board shall be the basis for the written policy which must be adopted by each law enforcement agency which employs the use of officer-worn body cameras. The written policy adopted by the law enforcement agency must include, at a minimum, all of the following:
(b) Recordings made with the use of an officer-worn body camera are not subject to disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act, except that:
For the purposes of paragraph (1) of this subsection (b), the subject of the encounter does not have a reasonable expectation of privacy if the subject was arrested as a result of the encounter. For purposes of subparagraph (A) of paragraph (1) of this subsection (b), "witness" does not include a person who is a victim or who was arrested as a result of the encounter.
Only recordings or portions of recordings responsive to the request shall be available for inspection or reproduction. Any recording disclosed under the Freedom of Information Act shall be redacted to remove identification of any person that appears on the recording and is not the officer, a subject of the encounter, or directly involved in the encounter. Nothing in this subsection (b) shall require the disclosure of any recording or portion of any recording which would be exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act.
(c) Nothing in this Section shall limit access to a camera recording for the purposes of complying with Supreme Court rules or the rules of evidence.

(Source: P.A. 101-652, eff. 7-1-21; 102-28, eff. 6-25-21; 102-687, eff. 12-17-21; 102-694, eff. 1-7-22; 102-1104, eff. 12-6-22.)
 
(50 ILCS 706/10-25)
Sec. 10-25. Reporting.
(a) Each law enforcement agency must provide an annual report on the use of officer-worn body cameras to the Board, on or before May 1 of the year. The report shall include:
(b) On or before July 30 of each year, the Board must analyze the law enforcement agency reports and provide an annual report to the General Assembly and the Governor.

(Source: P.A. 101-652, eff. 7-1-21; 102-1104, eff. 12-6-22.)
 
(50 ILCS 706/10-30)
Sec. 10-30. Evidence. The recordings may be used as evidence in any administrative, judicial, legislative, or disciplinary proceeding. If a court or other finder of fact finds by a preponderance of the evidence that a recording was intentionally not captured, destroyed, altered, or intermittently captured in violation of this Act, then the court or other finder of fact shall consider or be instructed to consider that violation in weighing the evidence, unless the State provides a reasonable justification.

(Source: P.A. 99-352, eff. 1-1-16.)
 
(50 ILCS 706/10-35)
Sec. 10-35. Authorized eavesdropping. Nothing in this Act shall be construed to limit or prohibit law enforcement officers from recording in accordance with Article 14 of the Criminal Code of 2012 or Article 108A or Article 108B of the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1963.

(Source: P.A. 99-352, eff. 1-1-16.)

Structure Illinois Compiled Statutes